
(1ass*PS -3 5*3 
Rnnlc .All 5 A3 



OopyrightN . 



I 903 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT, 



Ad 


Miriam 




Bv 


Frederick Hoim Law 




r 


G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS 
New York and London 
Zbc fmfcftetbocfcet press 

1909 



TS 353-3 



Copyright, 1909 

BY 

FREDERICK HOUK LAW 



LIBRARY of CONGRESS 
Two CoDics Re«elved 

JUN il 18U9 

^ Copynirnt Entry 

Xlass a xxc. no. 



copy a. 



tTbc fmicfeerbocfeer Press, IRew HJorfe 



T 7 NDER a dull gray sky of lead 
^ The gray sea rears a cold white reef 
And moans and moans, — and I moan my dead 
In dolorous pain and grief. 

Bending the grass the wild wind cries 

As it races under the sky, * 
And I look at the storm with aching eyes 

And think of the days gone by. 

The rain is aslant and the sand is sharp 
And the pools are filled with the risen tide, 

And a master hand is touching the harp 
With a dolorous strain that none may abide. 

The gulls and curlews all are fled, 

And the rain is sharp and keen and cold, 

And the sky is gray like a sky of lead, 
And the world is centuries old. 

A ship is beating slowly out to sea, 
Breasting the storm that tears the main, 

And some in the ship are sailing free 
To their own true loves 



But never in calm nor ever in gale 
Crossing the wild, wild main, 

Can I sail as I would sail 
To my own true love again. 



in 



AD MIRIAM 



WHERE the river winds among the meadows, 
And the wooded hilltops rise on high ; 
Where the snow is pure and deep all winter 

Underneath a calm, protecting sky; 
Where in summer one must walk and wander 

Over nodding pastures sweet and white: 
Yea — must climb to where the lofty woodland 

Holds its glades of dim and prayerful light, 
There she sleeps in peace, with nature's music 

Breathing o'er the hilltop where she lies, 
Sleeps, and sleeps in peace, in sun or shadow, 

While to her my longing spirit flies. 



II 



A LITTLE child with curling hair, 
A little girl with cheeks rose-red, 
A little heart untouched by care. 

Unheard by me some spirit said : 
" Those bright brown eyes shall look in thine; 
Those curving lips shall meet with thine; 
That happy heart shall beat with thine; 
That dainty soul shall grow with thine." 



I watched her moving down the street 

And saw no other child than her; 
The heart within me beat and beat 

And all my spirit felt the stir 
As if the deep had called to deep, 

As when within some lonely view 
One feels the longing spirit leap 

To God who breathes it through and through. 



The sunlight touched her hair with gold; 

The frosty air lit up her face, 
And over all my being rolled 

A half-felt awe that fixed the place, — 



.Ad Miriam 

The rounded maples, tall and straight, 
The street, the school with walls of white, 

And left it pictured clear as fate, 
As fate, or God, or love can write. 



I scarce had learned to speak her name; 

I could not dare to dream of more; 
Yet there beneath the trees first came 

The love my years have wondered o'er,- 
The love of youth and youth's sweet face, 

The love of deeper life and zest, 
The love of spirit's charm and grace, 

The full-set love that made me blest. 



Ill 

OWHAT is love that means so much, 
Whose power and life are never done, 
Which draws two spirits into one, — 
Two lonely spirits into touch? 

'T is like a chord of music sent 
From brighter realms that lie afar; 
Or like the bond that holds our star 

Within the studded firmament. 

It is the call of God to man 

To join with Him in things divine; 
It knows no earthly boundary line 

Nor moves in fixed and temporal span. 

It is a link that binds our time, 
Our passion-driven human heart, 
Our groping world of thought and art, 

With what is timeless and sublime. 

O Lord, our thanks are all too small 
For love and all its story means, 
For perfect human love, — it leans, 

O Lord, upon the All-in- All. 
4 



IV 



THE child I loved long years ago 
Has gone, — and I would have it so, — 

For who would always be a child? 
Long years I watched her spirit grow, 
And year by year I learned to know 

That self is always self exiled 
From that which was, the day before. 
'The tale of life is not told o'er 

In one dull round of work and play. 
True life increases more and more 
And adds unto the spirit's store 

A something sweet and new each day. 
If she had always been the same 
How dull and meaningless and tame 

The tale of life for her had been! 
She perished day by day, — a flame 
That built itself anew and came 

To have new brightness from within. 
I felt no loss, because I saw, 
And knew that change is nature's law, 

And loved her more the more she grew. 
So now this comfort I can draw : 
This change that fills me so with awe 

Is life gone on to something new. 
5 



.Ad Miriam 

And so it is I love her still 

And feel my soul more keenly thrill 

With love of that which is new-born. 
Nor can I rashly deem it ill 
That thus her life its plans fulfil 

That usher in her better morn. 



w 



E fall on sleep each night 

And with the morning light 
We wake anew. 



Our lives are but a day, 
And after work and play 
We go from view. 

From varied scenes we know, 
With breathings soft and low, 
We drift asleep. 

We do not fear to die, 
And friends shall by and by 
No longer weep. 

We know that death's black pall 
Is not the end of all, 
But merely rest. 

Beyond this life of men, 
Dear Heart, we '11 meet again, 
And that is best. 
7 



VI 



ONE day we drifted down the stream, 
The shadowed, willow-haunted stream 
Whereon the peace of God did lie, 
And in the waters gleamed the sky, 
And in their depths the shadowed hill. 
From far beyond, the distant mill 
Sent forth a low and sleepy sound, 
And all the waving meadow-ground 
Was steeped in August's sun and heat. 
From every side we heard repeat 
The shrill cicala's song, and then, 
When all was still, repeat again. 
Throughout that summer's happy day 
O'er all our pleasant, winding way 
A sense of harmony was sent 
As earth and sky in music blent. 
But she was there to make the view 
The view it seemed, the sky more blue, 
The song more sweet, life more divine, 
Earth's soul in closer touch with mine. 



VII 

I FEEL that thou art with me still, 
Thy hand in mine, — 
And so I try to do thy will, 

And half divine 
Thy presence when I do the right. 

I feel thee near 
When simple prayer is raised each night. 

I trust thy ear 
Is still attuned to hear and know, 

Whate'er betide, 
I love thee still where'er I go, 

My present bride. 



w 



VIII 

HAT lies beyond the last-drawn breath, 
O solemn, solemn fact of death? 
What lies beyond? 



The curtains do not swing aside; 
No message comes from o'er the tide; 
What lies beyond? 

Will nothing surely speak and say? 
Must I in faith's sweet silence pray? 
What lies beyond? 

But silence stands aghast and still, 
Brute silence, question as I will. 
What lies beyond? 



IO 



IX 

FOUR mighty facts of life I know 
On which creation swings, 
Four facts by which our spirits grow, 
Round which our being clings. 

And one is birth through mother's pain, 

Oh joyous thing and sad! 
And whence — oh, who can make it plain, 

Our birth in mystery clad ? 

And one is love that moulds in one 

Two souls that long to meet, 
But whence the heart's far-shining sun 

With all its comfort sweet? 

And one is holy parent-hood 

That greets a kindred soul, 
But why and whence this wondrous good, 

And what its distant goal? 

And one is death, — so hard to bear, — ■ 

So sure ahead of all ; 
What is this thing that all must share? 

What lies beyond its call? 



Ad Miriam 

These mighty facts are veiled indeed, 

And never understood, 
Though in our simple faith and need 

We trust that all are good. 



T2 



HOW oft by happy hill and stream 
With her I walked in one glad dream! 
How many times the nodding flowers, 
The whole gay world of earth was ours! 
The hills and groves were our retreat ; 
The rivers made for converse sweet. 
Within our own secluded place 
Each year we loved to meet and trace 
The happy steps of times gone by, 
For love may grow but never die. 
And oft, beneath the friendly trees, 
We felt our beings reach and seize 
And be in touch with something good 
That moved its spirit through the wood. 
Then hand in hand we felt each soul 
In touch with that that guides the whole, 
And there in shadow and in sun 
With God and love we were at one. 



13 



XI 

AT times I cannot write ; 
I sit alone, 
Outstaring part of night, 

And make my moan 
Among the shadows black. 

With all my soul 
I long to call her back. 

Then o'er me roll 
Such nameless doubt and fear 

That tear-drops fall 
In dread she cannot hear 

My longing call. 
Of what avail is life 

If one so sweet, 
Companion, Mother, Wife, 

May never greet 
The ones who loved her well? 

O starry sky, 
Do changing systems tell 

That all must die ? 
Or does a world of law 

Proclaim a Mind 
So great it gives us awe 

And strikes us blind 
14 



Ad. Miriam 

To fear and doubting thought; 

That makes it plain 
That He whose wisdom wrought 

Will not disdain 
To make our lives complete ; 

Whose ordered plan 
Will fill our prayer to meet 

Beyond the world of man? 



15 



XII 

HOW like a child am I in what I know ! 
How like a child who wonders what and why ! 
Who sees a something blue and calls it sky; 
Who thinks that all there is of earth below 
Is gathered where the homeland rivers flow; 

Whose petty griefs call forth an anguished cry; 
Whose whole round world is held by "me" and 
"my"; 
Who scarce has learned that he must live and grow! 

O Lord, in grief I pray thee, teach me right 
To see in part how great thy plans can be, 
How large thy universe for work and play; 
To trust in those whose wiser, fuller sight 

Has caught a glimpse of lands beyond our sea 
Of time, where men may work in brighter day. 



16 



XIII 

HOW close her spirit wrought with mine ! 
From many a poet's happy line 
We drew the same unending dream; 
From many a tale we caught the gleam 
Of swords and spears and armor bright 
And beacon-fires that roused the night. 
We lived in many a man's career 
And shared with him his hopes and fear ; 
We read of many a pleasant place 
Where men delight in nature's grace ; 
We did the dull and daily task : — 
So one were we I dare to ask: 
Will God so separate a heart, 
So tear a human soul apart, 
That nevermore we two shall meet 
Nor hold our pleasant converse sweet? 

O Love, it must be thou dost hear, 
And hearing, still art near and dear! 



XIV 

OUR sunny dreams once looked ahead 
And planned the days to be; 
By dreams I still can see 
An autumn foliage bright and red; 

A road that wound its upward way, — ■ 

A pleasant path to tread, — 

A winding road that led 
Among the meadows, lone and gray. 

We climbed the fence and lay at rest 
The while the sloping ray 
That marks the close of day 

Came down upon us from the west. 

We talked of what the years would bring 
With love and labor blest, 
And that which was the best, — ■ 

Our common joy in everything. 

And lo ! our lives fulfilled the dream : 

Within a magic ring 

We heard the fairies sing 
By many a love-lit mead and stream. 
18 



Ad Miriam 

For death itself we tried to plan, 
To catch a happy gleam 
From out the pale, pale beam 

That falls upon the world of man. 

Shall not our souls that dream fulfil, 
A hope since time began, 
The stream of death to span, 

And prove that Love is ruler still? 



19 



XV 

ONE day we two by fair Lake Placid lay, 
Ringed round by misty mountains dim and 
gray. 
Far off and dim the great peaks lifted high 
Their solemn faces, praying, toward the sky. 
The whole wide scene within that circle's sweep, 
The lake and silent woods and blue, blue deep 
Of sky, was filled with that which made us know 
That we were one with mighty streams that flow 
Throughout the universe. In that glad time 
The simple, common things became sublime. 
The mighty soul that interfuses all, 
Whose voice is in the birds' ecstatic call, 
Whose breath is in the wind that wanders free, 
Whose smile is sunlight over land and sea, 
Whose Self is deep imprest in hills that rise 
Far-reaching, grand, and still, to touch the skies, — 
That mighty Soul we felt was with us there, 
And that it was that made the scene so fair. 
Within that spell of charm we drew so near 
In soul, so needed each by each, so dear, 
That then there came upon us like a light 
Belief that love does not pass into night 
But that it goes to be a living part 
Of all that is, and somehow, heart to heart, 
In radiant sunset light or farthest star, 
Has share in building up the things that are. 

20 



XVI 

MY present, dear, to thee 
This Christmas Eve,— 
As thou would'st have it be, — 

Is not to grieve 
That thou hast gone away 

And left me lone; 
It is to do and say 

What shall atone 
For lack of thee this night, — 

What thou would'st do: 
To make our boy's heart light- 

"Our Little Boy Blue." 



21 



XVII 

NOW is the time when the merry bells ring, 
Spreading their echoes of cheer ; 
Dear to my heart are the thoughts that they bring, 

Echoes of many a year, — 
Echoes of laughter that sounds nevermore, 

Echoes of songs that are still. 
Glad were the sounds that the merry bells bore, 

Ringing by river and hill. 
Still, if the Maker's high purpose I knew, — 

Knew of His dealings with men, — 
Christmas would echo the Good and the True 

And Christmas be Christmas again. 



22 



XVIII 

THE gift that Christmas brings to thee 
Is higher life than mine, — 
A life more full, more glad, more free, 
Than e'er before was thine. 

1 would, dear heart, that thou could' st give 

Some part of that to me, 
That I the more might learn to live 

And grow to be like thee. 



23 



XIX 

INHERE were two deaths that came to me : 
The death of half my soul that died in her ; 
The death of my old self that used to be. 

As if two angels came to stir 

The stagnant pool of life and make it clean, 
These two have waked us both to better life. 

For she has waked to life unseen, 

Though real and filled with toil and noblest strife, 
To do God's work within a higher field. 

And I have waked to serious mind, 

To learn the hopes that nobler aims can yield, 
With most of all my weaker self behind. 



24 



XX 

SAY once in happy days of old 
Some princess blithe and gay, 
In childhood's beauty manifold, 

Had gone some summer's day 
To sunny fields of nodding bloom. 

'Mong flowers and grasses tall 
A happy boy, — or page or groom,— 

Had come at childhood's call. 
It might have seemed to common eye 

That both were one in kind, — 
In health, in youth, in charms that vie 

With charms to make one blind 
To that which lies more deep beneath. 

But when in after-time 
Our little lady's royal wreath 

Had blossomed into rhyme, 
And men bent low before their queen, 

That other, — squire or knight, — 
Would be in rank and state too mean 

To be her heart's delight. 
Yet at her feet in homage true 

Her childhood friend might kneel 
And be among the chosen few 

For whom her heart could feel. 
25 



Ad Miriam 

Dear love, thou art beyond me now 

In soul and life and all, 
Yet when to thee my love I vow 

I hear thy silent call. 
I will thy cherished plans fulfil ; 

Thy work shall now be mine ; 
For I, in heart and mind and will, 

Am more than ever thine. 



26 



XXI 

THEY say that once God spoke with man 
Within a garden cool and bright, 
And on a mountain's lofty span 

Himself gave forth the laws of right. 
But this I know: God speaks to-day 

And lives within us hour by hour. 
Each flower that nods beside our way, 

Each living thing, proclaims His power. 
His soul is interfused with all; 

The sacred thing that we call life 
In mosses green or grasses tall, 

The haunts of wild and brutish strife, 
The poet's soul that looks afar, 

The laws that hold all things in place, 
The sweep of each majestic star, 

The power, beauty, music, grace, 
Is simply God in all that is. 

If we could know Him more and more 
Our lives' would be more wholly His ; 

Then He would speak as long before 
He spoke to holy men and true ; 

Then we, with thought that God is near, 
Would gain the joys that once we knew 

And lose our sorrows and our fear. 



27 



XXII 

SOME say that brutish souls shall die, 
That beast is merely beast, 
That only those godlike and high 
Shall taste of life's eternal feast. 

Yet power is power, and has no end, 

Though changed in form it be, 
And wisdom says that all things tend 

To higher things than those we see. 

If so, then life goes on as well 

In changing wheels of light, 
And none can surely guess nor tell 

What cycles lie beyond our sight. 

What we in blindness call the low 

May well become the high, 
And that which seems most brutish, grow 

Divine beneath another sky. 

Then those whose lives are perfect here 

Are blest in truth and deed, 
And must advance from sphere to sphere 

As spirit fills the spirit's need. 
28 



Ad Miriam 

Oh Love, thy growth indeed is sure ; 

Thy soul was all divine; 
Thou livest still, as sweet and pure 

As when thy life made joy for mine. 



29 



XXIII 

OUR duties bore us oft apart, 
And yet the swift hours new 
Till we together drew 
And were no longer far apart. 

But now thou hast a nobler work: 

Not always can'st thou be 

In loving watch by me: 
Thou hast a better, nobler work. 

And yet at times, Sweetheart, I know, 
Since thou hast yet thy will, 
Thy arms are round me still, 

Thy heart in tune with mine, I know. 



30 



XXIV 

MEN ask me whence I gain belief 
That death is but a dark-hued veil 
That hides a view of mountain and of dale 
That lies fair-spread beyond our grief. 

I draw it from the Buddha's speech; 

I catch it from the swinging flash and sheen 
That lit Mohammed's sword, verse-cut and keen 

From what the Zend- Avestas teach ; 

From mummies wrapped in loving hope 
That bright-eyed life would dawn again ; 
From Christ, whose life so nobly taught us men 

That we in darkness need not grope; 

From naked Indians round their fire ; 
From Greek and pagan, bond and free, 
By mountain, lake, and boundless reach of sea; 

From all men's common, deep desire. 

I pin my faith upon no man 

Nor fix it in a single race ; 

I dare to hope that God has given grace 
That all may dimly see His plan. 



31 



XXV 

I THINK of One among Judean hills, 
Whose face was lit with wondrous light, 
Who felt that loving God hood fills 

All things with sense of love and right. 

I see Him touch the lily's slender cup, 
Or watch the chirping sparrows fly ; 

I see Him take the children up ; 

I see Him touch the blind man's eye; 

I see Him on the vast expanse alone 
Where angel dreamings came and went ; 

Or in a garden making moan 

With wearied heart and spirit spent. 

No other man this toiling world has seen 

Communed more close with God than He 

He saw Him by the meadows green ; 
He knew Him there in Galilee ; 

He saw Him in the hearts of fishing men, 
And felt Him by the common way : 

He said the dead would live again 

Though forms we know shall turn to clay. 
32 



Ad Miriam 

This Master-soul in whom God's spirit dwelt 
Taught living truth in all He said, 

Through Him our weeping world has felt 
That much of death's great fear has fled. 

I put my trust in Him, whose kindly eyes 
Saw more than simple, common things; 

Round whom, so good, and kind, and wise, 
Our deepest life forever clings. 



33 



XXVI 

A THOUSAND prophets God has sent 
In many a land and time ; 
In speech, and tale, and rhyme, 
With common things their words are blent. 

The wandering bard and poet-king 

And monk in cloistered pale 

In dim, secluded dale, 
At heart alike one message bring: 

That they who nobly die like men, 
Whose lives were good and strong, 
Who fought the false and wrong, 

May surely hope to live again. 



34 



XXVII 

IT cannot be that I have lost thee, dear! 
Expectant still, I wait to hear 
Thy wonted voice in pleasant, gentle call ; 
To hear thy wonted footsteps fall 
In music round the house as once before. 
Oh never, never, nevermore 
To stand with thee and see thee face to face 
With bright-lit eye and woman's grace! 
It cannot be thy voice is silent now, 
Thy ear is deaf to hear my vow! 
Oh, not enough is it on hope to feed : 
Thy human self is what I need. 
I hope and trust, but still I grieve for thee: 
Thy human self was dear to me. 
I long to hear thy voice, to touch thy hand, 
To see thee walk, and sit, and stand; 
To wake with greeting thee at morning's light, 
To say to thee my last good-night. 
Sweetheart, dear love, for thee unnumbered tears 
Shall fall throughout the lonely years ; 
For thee my life shall wear a pall of black 
And every wish still call thee back. 



35 



XXVIII 

I KNOW that thou art more than mind, 
But what nor how, I do not know: 
To many things God makes us blind, 
But gives us hope that we shall grow. 

We flash our thoughts across the sea 
That once the lone storm-petrel bore : 

With forms unseen they leave the key; 
They fade as if forevermore. 

All things are clad in forms of grace, 
And forms but change to forms again ; 

They speed with matter, time, and space 
Until once more they speak to men. 

Our senses five are all too small 

To know much more than smallest part 

Of what makes up the all-in-all 
Of great creation's beating heart. 

Our God will kindly clothe his dead, 
For that we sow shall rise anew; 

Some form thou hast, — as Paul once said,- 
Some radiant form myself shall view. 
36 



Ad Miriam 

But I, like you, must put aside 
The heavy, toil-worn robes I wear, 

The clinging masks that hold and hide, 
To don the garments new and fair. 



37 



XXIX 

IN solitude among the hills, 
With forests all around, 
I hear the wind's great organ sound, 
And through my being thrills 
A sense of other things 
Than those the peopled valley brings. 

The distant, purple-shaded line 

Where earth and heaven meet, 
The pleasant woodland's calm retreat, 

The slender, whispering pine, 
To him who walks the wood 
Proclaim that all of earth is good. 

A mighty soul we learn to know 

In friendly bush and tree, 
On far-off hilltops lone and free 

Where God's sweet organs blow 
Their notes that never cease, 
Among the woodlands filled with peace. 

The lonely, potent hilltops tell 

That love is lord of earth, 
That beauty, goodness, charm, and worth, 

In happiness may dwell, 
Assured that over all 
God hears the heart's supremest call. 



XXX 

THEY sleep until the Judgment Day, 
The wise ones used to say, 
And Heaven 's glories lie afar 
Beyond the farthest star. 

But God rests not beyond the sky: 

He toils with us who die, 
With daily wonders manifold 

As in the days of old. 

They wake at once with work to do 

In meadows fair and new, 
For Heaven lies in realms so near 

Its splendors light us here. 



39 



XXXI 

IN cycles all untold 
The plastic germs have grown, 
While types on types unfold 
To better things than known. 

No form so vile and low, 

So steeped in brutish thought, 

But years may watch it grow 
To best that God has wrought. 

No sin so vile and deep 

But he who sinned may turn 

To where God's planets sweep 
And stars celestial burn. 

Help me, O God, to rise 
Beyond the self I leave, 

That I with better eyes 

Seek her for whom I grieve. 



40 



XXXII 

IF one who fell could never rise 
How sad this world would be ! 
Dear Heart, in loving thee 
I look upon the starry skies. 

Until thy soul took heavenly wing 
And left me lone, dear Love, 
With all my thoughts above, 

I scarce had heard God's angels sing. 

The gates that thou hast entered in 
Have let their golden light 
Across my clouded night 

Of carelessness and sin. 

Perhaps God's message came to thee 
That I, with tear-stained face, 
Might seek His kindly grace, 

And thou in dying die for me. 



4i 



XXXIII 

IT seems so strange that thou should'st die, 
Whose life was young and good: 
My faith must help me answer why, 
Though dimly understood. 

I know thou hast not died in vain : 
Some purpose God has wrought, 

To link thy life in golden chain 
With some creative thought. 

Link me, dear Love, within thy bond, 

That I may work with thee 
And help the world to look beyond 

The day-work's restless sea. 



42 



XXXIV 

THE last of all my gifts was roses, dear, 
The last of all my gifts to thee, 
For thou did'st scatter roses many a year 
In all the days thou wert with me. 

Thy memory still is like a scented rose 

Whose odors fill a pleasant room, 
And where the sweetest roses grow, God knows, 

There is no shadowed place for gloom. 

O sweetest rose that in my garden grew, 
With thee my sunny hours have flown, 

With thee the sunrise light and morning dew, 
The brightest hours that I have known. 



43 



XXXV 

HOW proudly weak and pale she stood 
To hush the baby's cry! 
O radiant smile of motherhood ! 
O tender, love-lit eye! 

A thousand sunsets' golden flame 

United all in one 
Were not one half the charm that came 

The while she rocked her son. 

A Tintoretto's glorious art 

Would own itself defied : 
So pale and weak, so rich in heart, 

So filled with mother's pride. 

O burdened arms so kind and true! 

O face so sweet to see ! 
Her soul with love thrilled through and through, 

She held her arms to me. 

How pale the love in stories told 

By minstrels old and gray! 
For mother-love is writ in gold 

And told in angels' way. 



44 



XXXVI 

THE rose-hung years their perfume shed, 
The light of dawn was fair ahead: 
rosy light and perfumed years 
Still sweet across the mist of tears ! 
The gates of life were hung with flowers, 
And all the gay, light-hearted hours 
To silken strings sang love-to-be 
When Love's sweet self should dwell with me. 

To some the golden tale seems done, — 
Passed by, — with Rome and Carthage one,- 
Remote as mummies wrapped in gold, 
Or dreams unique by poets told. 

Yet what if years that fade away 
But scatter dust upon the clay, 
And every day that dawns in light 
Remove the vision from my sight ? 
The while my soul exists in me 
My love shall live, dear Heart, for thee. 



45 



XXXVII 

THE New Years still are glad for me : 
Sweetheart, they bring me nearer thee! 



46 



XXXVIII 

OH, crisp and cold the winter's air, 
And bright and fair 
Her cheeks with health and young delight. 

The ground, snow-white, 
Was pure as if for angels' feet, 

While o'er the street 
The frosted trees an archway made 

Where frost-light played. 
The floating crystals danced and gleamed 

As if there streamed 
Through all the air a fairy train 

With giddy brain 
And filmy dress of jewelled lace. 

And on her face 
The radiant light of love and youth : 

Oh, sweet as Ruth 
At toil among the Syrian wheat ! 

Old songs repeat 
Their tales of beauty's charm and dower, 

Of Helen's power, 
And royal maids neath charm and spell. 

But none can tell 
Such tales as love-lit living eyes! 

The winter skies 
Arched bright above the valley's cup, 

And lifted up 

47 



.Ad Miriam 

Above the vale the forests rose 

As if to close 
The world in purple fit for kings. 

Each New Year brings 
The glinting, happy scene again 

As fresh as when 
The wandering breeze each curling tress 

With sweet caress 
Blew back and forth as if to kiss. 

Oh, sweetest bliss 
To walk each New Year's Day with thee, 

And careless, free, 
Untrammelled, note but half the scene, 

But more, I ween, 
Of thee ! brown eyes deep and true, 

What angels drew 
Your light on me ! O comrade sweet, 

May years repeat 
Our New Year's walk with hearts as near 

And love as dear 
As if blue skies were o'er us still. 

With Heaven's will 
My heart each year shall still be thine, 

Forever thine. 



4 8 



XXXIX 

WITH many a streaming tear, 
O dearest sweet and fair, 
I fold the empty air 

In arms that ache for thee ! 
With vainly longing ear 
I sit and strive to hear 

Some gentle call from thee ! 
O voiceless, empty air! 
dearest sweet and fair! 
With many a streaming tear! 



49 



XL 

SWEETHEART, whom every wish still calls to me, 
How often have I prayed to dream of thee, 
For happy dreams can make thee live again 
And for a moment make my sorrows flee. 

Last night, in dreams, I moved among a crowd 
Where people spoke with voices gay and loud, 
When suddenly I found myself with thee, 
And thought that I had dreamed of pall and shroud. 

And sudden joy like that of warming wine 
Sprang through my veins ; I took thy hand in mine 
And said: "I lost thee once, but now I '11 hold 
Thee fast and keep my hand in touch with thine." 

Thy face was lit with more than wonted light, — 
And calmness filled my hungry soul at sight 
Of thee, so radiant, beauteous, sweet, and fair, 
Amidst the moving crowd that rilled the night. 

And then, at sight of one whose face was dear, 
You sprang away, and I with many a fear 
Sought long in vain to find thee once again, — 
And woke to find myself alone and here. 

50 



Ad Miriam 

Mayhap the while my body lay in sleep 

My soul was somehow near the vasty deep, 

So near that thou couldst come and take my hand 

And bid me for a moment cease to weep. 

I cannot prove that this sweet thought is true, 
But earth has much to learn of strange and new, 
And this I know: If thou couldst come to me 
'T is what thy loving heart would bid thee do. 



5i 



XLI 

THROUGH all the world a vast, sweet music 
plays, 
So vast, so calm, so sweet that it can raise 
The soul of him who hears to be with God, 
Who sends his music over all our ways. 

And grief is like a spell that holds us still 
And lets us hear the harmonies that fill 
The higher mind of man and join his soul 
In bond of trust with God's eternal will. 

And in our grief we hear great poets tell 
How they, in grief, once felt the soothing spell 
Of that great stillness sorrow brings to men, 
And heard God's music chime that all is well. 

God's harmonies of life are sweet to hear, 
Though we at first lend dull, impatient ear, — 
Unending love, unending life the theme, 
Unending love, — and not a cause for fear. 



52 



XLII 

THE loving thought and care 
That people give 
To those who live, 
Upholds from black despair; 

For sympathy is sweet: 

If understood, 

Its brotherhood 
Would prove the All-Complete. 



53 



XLIII 

I LOOK among your letters, dear, 
Old letters kept for many a year, 
And in my grief I turn to read, 
And lo ! the very words I need : 
"Be brave, be patient, good, and true; 
We each have work that we must do. 
Work on, — and as for all the rest, 
We '11 meet again when it is best." 

dearest ! still your letters speak, 
And day by day and week by week 

1 read them o'er and seem to feel 
As if by me in presence real 

Your darling self were whispering low: 
"Do well, — for I would have it so." 



54 



XLIV 

A HALF-HEARD violin is sweet to hear. 
It greets the ear 
With pensive notes of longing tone, 

As if far off and lone 
Some spirit breathed itself in music's breath. 

What half-heard music breathes round those whom 
death 
Has called away! 
What pensive notes of memory stray 

Across the misty years 
With melody that charms away our tears ! 



55 



XLV 

WHAT interwoven lines link soul with soul! 
What various bonds unite us all in one ! 
The larger love is life's eternal goal, 
A deeper love is death's all-kindly sun. 

And we shall live by love beyond that sea 
Whose darkest billows roll upon our shore ; 

In love be understood ; in love be free, 

And understanding, learn to love the more. 

And in that larger love, I hope to know, 

Dear Heart, a deeper, wider love for thee, — 

For thou hast shown me first the radiant bow 
That arches o'er our life's deep, restless sea. 



50 



XLVI 

TO know that death is near, 
And still have grace to smile ; 
To do full labor here 

Though every little while 
Death's messengers proclaim 

By certain word and sign 
Their awful master's name; 

In silence to confine 
All brooding thoughts within, 

That others' lives be bright ; 
To live as free from sin 

As day is free from night; 
At last to fall asleep 

As children go to rest, — 
Though loved ones wake to weep,- 

Is after all the best. 



57 



XLVII 

FROM where my city windows lie 
I see one lonely patch of blue : 
The sweep of wide, horizoned sky 

Is bricked and walled from out my view. 

Yet oft I think of ships at sea 

Beneath a cloud-swept, arching dome; 
Or circled hills with rock and tree, 

Around my boyhood's distant home. 

Our walls of being bar away 

An arching sky that others know ; — ■ 

Yet we, set free some solemn day, 
Shall see the full sky's radiant glow. 



S8 



XLVIII 

SOMETIMES oppressed with toil and care ; 
And hating noise and din, 
I leave the crowded thoroughfare, 
To find a church, and enter in. 

A holy twilight fills the place ' 

With sweet and solemn light: 
Mayhap an angel's carven face 

Looms calmly fair upon my sight. 

Mayhap the organ, sweet and low, 

Plays chords I love to hear; 
So, seated there, I feel I know 

A richer music for an inner ear. 

dear, dear love, — oppressed with care, 
And hating noise and din, 

1 left the crowded thoroughfare, 

And found your love, and entered in. 

And sweet and low the music played ; 

I saw an angel's face; 
And over all my being strayed 

A light, no gloom can e'er displace. 
59 



Ad Miriam 

rich and sweet and good and true, 
The streets are dark to-day; 

1 cannot find the place I knew, 
Nor hear the full, rich music play! 



60 



XLIX 

THE hurrying, brute, unmeaning crowd, 
The thousand faces marked with earth, 
Strike on my mind like voices loud: 

"Does aught in life have lasting worth?" 

1 ' The sea of birth up-tosses men 
Upon a beach of chance and fate; 

The tides of death draw back again 
All living things to nature's state." 

1 ' What hope of aught God-made and high, 
Of visioned hope and angel-dreams, 

In all these millions born to die, 
To die — if life is what it seems?" 

But oh! in all that crowd, each soul, 

However brute and low it be, 
Knows love, — and love uplifts the whole 

To touch high God's eternity! 



61 



ONE summer day, — delightful day! 
But day forever dead, — 
We drove along a country way 
With blue skies overhead. 

And in a pasture, rough and wild 
With low-set bush and thorn, 

Saw roses sweet as if some child 
Had tended them each morn. 

We knew that once, long years ago, 
A happy home was there, — 

Because of which these roses grow 
With neither love nor care. 

Dear love, — within my broken heart 
A sweet, sweet memory grows 

Untouched by self-deceit or art, 
And sweet as any rose. 



62 



LI 

ABOVE the west the evening star 
Has shown its glorious light, 
And there in radiance, bright and far, 
It ushers in the night. 

If over earth no night were thrown, 

The stars that fill the sky 
With fires of God would rest unknown, 

Unseen by human eye. 

Perhaps if over life no grief 
Had thrown its solemn pall 

We scarce could know the bright belief 
Of largest life for all. 



63 



LII 

I PRAY thee, dear, 
Be near me here, 
In spite of carelessness and sin. 
Whate'er I do, — deep-shrined within, 
Where love should be, 
Is love of thee. 



By sun and star 

I stray afar 
By lonely swamp and mountain crest, 
Yet always leave my love at rest 

Where love should be, 

Adoring thee. 



64 



LIII 

I^HE Hindoo sage, — so stories tell, — 
Can speed his soul at will, 
While motionless and still 
His form is deep in slumber's spell. 

Last night, dear Love, I talked with thee, 
And praised thy comely face, 
And praised thy woman's grace, — 

All-glad thou wert again with me. 

Perhaps the borderland of death 

Is close to gentle sleep, 

And we a trysting keep, 
Set free from earth by slumber's breath. 



65 



LIV 

OOD -night, good-night. 
The world is dark and cold ; 
Dark shadows must enfold 

Us both till morning light. 



G 



Till morning light, 
Till morning light appear, 
Good-night, good-night, my dear, 

Good-night, good-night. 



66 



LV 

WITH gentle heart and kind 
She loved the flowers and oft would find 
A blessedness and rest 
In welcoming each petalled guest 
With all that love can lend 
To welcoming a friend. 

The pleasant field that lies, 
Unseen by her with mortal eyes, 

Before her country grave, 
Has all the flowers that nature gave 
To perfume all the air 
And make the landscape sweet and fair. 

Her soul is like a flower 
God tended here in sun and shower ; 

And when in beauty dressed, 
He took the flower and made it blessed 
By taking it to be 
With Him through all eternity. 



67 



LVI 

WHEN I shall come to die 
It is my wish to lie 
With her upon the hill 
Where all is sweet and still ; 
To be where meadows are, 
With purple hills afar ; 
To be where woodlands rise 
To meet the sunset skies ; 
To be where once I knew 
No skies but skies of blue ; 
To lie there side by side 
With her who is my bride, — 
For whom my love shall live 
As long as God shall give 
Me being, — here or there, — 
On earth or anywhere. 
With her I wish to be 
When death shall set me free ; 
With her my dust should lie 
When I shall come to die. 



68 



LVII 

1 BUILT me a castle of air 
With gate of cloud and turret of dreams 
And banner that caught the sunrise gleams ; 
I filled it everywhere 
With melody of song 
From harps the wandering winds caress 
And made the very air express 
A music sweet and long. 
I placed on a throne of gold 
My own dear Princess sweet and true, 
And I knelt before as a knight should do, 
And I sang of the manifold 
Delights of the days of yore. 
I dreamed that my castle would stand for aye, 
My castle that lasted only a day ; 
And now evermore 
I seek in the land of dreams 
For the music that once was everywhere 
Filling and thrilling my castle in air 
Bright with the sunrise gleams. 



69 



LVIII 

THE mad, wild grief goes by, 
For Time with healing touch 
Availeth much, 
Yet heavy sorrows lie 
Upon the lonely heart 

With grief that lives unsaid, 
"With tears unshed 
For life's divinest part. 



70 



LIX 

WHAT if, at times, I sink in black despair! 
It is but weariness and nothing more. 
I rise again, and rise in purer air, 

And know that love exists as once before. 

It must be true that sensual love shall die, 

That earth's creative force shall claim its own 

There is a love so sweet, so pure, so high, 
That it belongs to lasting life alone. 

In after-life that love will grow more sweet, 
Set free from all the former bonds of clay ; 

And then it is that life will be complete 

When it is lived in purest love's sweet way. 



71 



LX 

UPON her door we hung a wreath of white 
With tiny flowers that swayed at every breath, 
That every passer-by might read aright: 

"Within this house there is no fear of death." 

We hoped the pretty, wind-swept flowers would say: 
"There is no death ; this thing is merely change ; 

It is the growth of life in God's good way, 
And not a fearful ending, dread and strange. 

1 ' We mourn because awhile we lose our friend 

Whose ways were sweet, whose face was good to see ; 

We do not think a human life can end ; 

We do not think our love can cease to be." 



73 






LXI 



I THINK she stood beside us while we wept, 
And wished that she might dry our tears away; 
I think she wondered how her body slept ; 

I think she stood and heard us moan and pray. 

I think her arms were clasped about us there ; 

I think she knew at last and understood, 
And joined with us in humble, simple prayer, 

And knew full more than we that God is good. 

I think this true : but how it all could be 

I do not know nor do I need to know ; 
Yet in the best and wisest books, I see 

The best and wisest men have thought it so. 



73 



LXII 

AT first they may not understand ; 
Perhaps they try to speak, 
Or touch with airy hand 
Each tear-stained cheek. 

They have the form their beings need 

And not a form like ours; 
On wings of light they speed 

With new-found powers. 

Perhaps they meet still further change 

As power grows within, 
And ever wider range 

From fear and sin. 

We do not know, — but this we know, 
When things are understood : 

The high succeeds the low; 
God's ways are good. 



74 



LXIII 

IF I could but recall 
Each thoughtless word and deed, 
What touch of peace would fall 
Upon me in my need ! 

sweet and gentle face, — 

loving heart and kind, — 
What sympathy and grace 

For me in every mind ! 

1 see the lamp -light glow 
Upon you in the hall; 

I feel your love, and know 
You wait to hear my call. 

I pray forgiveness, dear! 

My books I'd throw away 
If I could bring you near 

And have you here to-day . 

You should not sit apart; 

1 could not read alone ; 

I 'd sit with you, dear Heart, 
And have you all my own. 

75 



Ad Miriam 

Whate'er the work to do 
You should not be denied; 

How sweet to work with you 
Forever at my side. 



76 



LXIV 

WE loved the valley and the hills, 
The pleasant, winding road, 
The sleepy peace and charm that fills 

The place where summers glowed 
Upon our love. The sky was blue, 

The landscape green and fair, — ■ 
The world was always young and new 

When she and I were there. 
For us the cattle stood at gaze, 

For us the river gleamed, 
For us alone the summer days 

Gave light and warmth ; it seemed 
That nature gave her sweetest grace 

To every flower and tree : 
Sweetheart, the charm was in thy face 

And all was due to thee. 



77 



LXV 

IF sometime she had won high fame 
Or prizes wrought in gold, 
Or promise of a lasting name, 

My tongue could not have told 
My leaping sense of joy and pride; 

Yet now it well may be 
I should not grieve that she has died. 

Perchance if I could see 
What untold freedom she has gained, 

What breadth of life acquired, 
My cheeks with tears would be unstained, 

My heart with joy be fired; 
And I should feel my pulses beat 

In gladness at the thought 
That now her life is full and sweet 

With joys that death has wrought. 



78 



LXVI 

SHOULD not the eyes of those who go before 
Regard our life as death? 
Shut in by walls of clay and death's dark door 
We die at every breath. 

The larger, finer life is here unknown, — 

A larger life so bright 
That all the joys that human lives have shown 

Are joys deep- veiled in night. 

Euripides the Greek in days of old, 
Whose thought sped deep and high, 

Declared that life's great reach of sunrise gold 
Begins but when we die. 



79 



LXVII 

I THINK no life can die, 
However mean and low, — 
In sea, or earth, or sky, 
Wherever it may grow. 

Each life is one bright spark 

Struck hot from God's own heart; 
No life can e'er grow dark 

In which God plays a part. 

The gropers in the slime, 

Though lower in degree 
By boundless depths of time, 

Are still linked close with me. 

We do not dream too much 
In dreaming they may grow: 

We rose ourselves from such 
A span or two ago. 

Life's chances overawe 

And bend us down in prayer, 

For growth is God's great law 
On earth or otherwhere. 

80 



.Ad Miriam 

Yet if the brute should die, 
I trust at least that men, 

Whose souls can look on high, 
Shall wake, shall live again. 

Man's skilful hands control 
What once made men aghast 

He toils and builds his soul — 
Imperial force and vast. 

Man's godlike self gives hope 
That men in God's great eye 

Are not like worms that grope, 
And surely shall not die. 

Yet I at least have trust 
All life is linked with mine ; 

That God throughout is just, 
And all that lives divine. 



81 



LXVIII 

HOW various are the dreams of men! 
Some dream the life of sense is all; 
They list to Folly's maddened call 
Until their dust is dust again. 

Some toil and plot for gleaming gold ; 

They heap up piles that sons shall waste 
In mad debauch with gambler's haste; — 

And thus they toil and thus grow old. 

Each man pursues a phantom form 
That beckons onward day by day, 
That flies before him on life's way 

In youth and sunshine, age and storm. 

But one bright dream is that of seers 
Who think all life is bound in one, 
That conscious life is never done, 

That everywhere God's life appears, 

That life is one progressive whole, 
That he who longs to gain more light, 
Who makes his nature sweet and bright, 

Shall be through death a living soul. 



82 



LXIX 

IF that which is beyond belief 
Be true and we shall meet no more, 
If souls are matter, — still my grief 
Shall find its solace as before. 



If all creation be but brute, 

If sun and star be chance alone, 

If what we call God's voice be mute, 
If naught but witless force be known, 

What then ! I live with conscious mind 
That holds a memory sweet and dear, — 

And memory's power, by love refined, 
Can daily bring my lost love here. 

I see the brown and golden hair, 

The dear brown eyes with tender light, 
The cheeks so flushed and rosy-fair, 

The lips I long to kiss to-night. 

I hear the voice in sweet old song, 
I see the head that turns aside, — 

Ah me! in every nerve I long 

To touch my darling and my bride ! 
83 



.Ad Miriam 

My memory calls a thousand days 

Again to life; — we ride and walk 
By o'erhung, scented, country ways, 

And lie in flowers to dream and talk. 

We move among the woods and think 
That all earth's beauty meets in One 

Whose Self is like a living link 

Between all things, — or man or sun. 

If that bright dream was merely dream 
My mind can still retain the bliss 

We caught by many a wandering stream — 
The love-lit eyes, the ardent kiss, 

The fact we loved each other more 
The more the years gave happy light, 

The whole bright love now gone before, 
And gone, some say, to endless night. 

O whirling atom world of force ! 

Unguided, meaningless machine 
Without a soul or destined course ! 

(Some say, whose minds are quick and keen.) 

The while I live I have her soul 

As if companion to my thought, 
And when fate's waves shall o'er me roll 

All joy or grief shall be as naught. 

While life exists love will not end 

Nor Hope's great fountains cease to sing: 

O Love, in life or death a friend 

Whate'er the unknown future bring! 



LXX 

SHE left the coarser life of sense behind 
To enter on the larger life of mind, 
Not cribbed within the binding walls of clay 
But free to move in life's supremest way. 
The life of sense mayhap but trains the soul 
To move unto an intellectual goal, 
An ever-rising round of noblest mind 
That far surpasses us, though same in kind. 

And yet I think, in spite of all so sweet, 
Her better life would still be incomplete 
Except she shared the narrow life I lead 
And tried somewhat to fill my daily need, 
That I so oft express with heartfelt prayer, 
Of deepest love and sweetest, fondest care. 



35 



LXXI 

THE thought of death has lost its sting, 
For once I feared to die ; 
Somewhat less strongly do I cling 
To things that near me lie. 

If death ends all, I lose my woe, 

Deep-drowned in Lethe's tide 
Where neither she nor I shall know, 

Though lying side by side. 

If not: — I leap to higher life 

Where not a doubt is mine 
That she will say — oh, truest wife — ■ 

"I am forever thine!" 



$6 



LXXII 

NO poet tells of love more true, 
No poet sings of faith more sweet, 
Than that sweet love and faith I knew, 
That naught on earth can now repeat. 

Oh, sweet and true and dear wert thou, 
Oh, dear and true and sweet to me, 

And I cannot forget thee now 

When deepest love still turns to thee. 



87 



LXXIII 

IN all the bloody life that stained the past 
The Mind Omnipotent might see 
The better man that was to rise at last, 
The better world that was to be. 

The dim ghost-world that haunted savage dreams 

Foretold a nobler faith and hope ; 
Their high-topped fires and sacrificial gleams 

Gave light to souls beyond their scope. 

I think that still in God's far-seeing eye 

Our faith is rude and blind indeed ; 
But faith, though blindly, tells of truths that lie 

In God's great love to meet our need. 



«8 



LXXIV 

THEY say no savage race is known 
Where death is counted death indeed 
Where'er creation's life has flown 
Hope's angels went with equal speed. 

The deep, deep thoughts of men are true, 
For all the world can scarce be wrong; 

Beyond our sight the skies are blue, 
Beyond our silence lies the song. 



89 



LXXV 

GOD'S force creates the worlds anew, 
And restless, tireless, born of might, 
It builds with atoms hid from view, 

And builds with stars beyond the night. 

A thousand aeons mark His breath ; 

Ourselves are built from forms we scorn ; 
The world of matter knows no death; 

All things must change and rise new-born. 

God's force will mould us to His will; 

Eternal change will mark our course; 
Our living selves will all fulfil 

The law of life's creative force. 

No part of us shall surely die, 

But, changed, again shall move, be free, 
Shall feel the warmth from deepest sky, 

Shall know the reach of widest sea. 



90 



LXXVI 

I THINK of some cathedral pile 
With Gothic arch and lofty spire, 
And dim -lit, censer-scented aisle, 
And altars lit with deathless fire. 

My thoughts climb high with storied stone; 

My soul forgets the outer air, 
And there in God's great house alone 

Kneels down perforce in humble prayer : 

' ' Give me, God, the simple soul 

Of them who built this house of thine ; 

In their sweet faith let°me enroll 

This deeply throbbing heart of mine." 

"Make all my thoughts, like this great spire, 
Point up to thee in realms above ; 

Help me to kindle deathless fire 

And yield an incense sweet with love." 

"I think the builders builded true, 
For life itself points up to thee; 

The hope the loving builders knew, 
Confirm, O God, confirm in me." 



91 



LXXVII 

ONE thought the world has kept 
From darkest ages down to now ; 
We know not whence it came nor how, 
But while the planets swept 

Above an infant race 
That scarce could claim a living soul, 
The thought that death but makes life whole 

Had found abiding place. 

Of shadow-life they dreamed, 
But never dreamed of death alone; 
They felt that grief that made men moan 

Was not the thing it Seemed. 

That thought we cherish still, 
Made strong by time and our belief 
That widespread thought that quiets grief 

Is God's eternal will. 

The thing the dim past knew 
We cherish still and hold it so ; 
We cherish still and trust we know 

Man's changeless thought is true. 



92 



LXXVIII 

1 CANNOT think what life can be 
Beyond the world I know. 
I touch and taste and hear and see, 

And where the roses grow 
I love to breathe their fragrant breath. 

My human senses tell 
Of naught within the realm of death. 

Mayhap indeed 't is well 
We do not know the wealth that lies 

Beyond our time and space. 
We dwell beneath our kindly skies, 

A happy, toiling race, 
And when our time shall come to sail 

To lands that lie afar, 
We go as seekers of the Grail 

Beneath the morning star. 



93 



LXXIX 

THE life beyond must be a life of mind, 
In which that inner life we call the soul 
Is set so free and lives so unconfined 

That life must seem most joyous, new, and whole. 

I cannot think our senses will remain ; 

I cannot think our human forms will stay ; 
And yet I think there must be joy and pain 

And something like to sense, in higher way. 

If aught exists then love will live, set free 

From every touch of earth, made sweet and high, 

A strange, mysterious bond, and we shall be 
As those who live and love and will not die. 



94 






LXXX 

HER body lies afar 
Where dawning light and morning star 

Rejoice a silent land; 
And in her pale, unmoving hand 

She holds my roses still. 
Before her shrine on that old hill 

My pilgrim thought kneels low. 
Her dust is sacred — yet I know, 

With ardent , thankful prayer, 
Her better self is otherwhere. 



95 



LXXXI 

IF it can be, 
The heart I loved and knew 
Is still as sweet and true 
And visits me. 

I may not know 
Communion dear and sweet, 
But still my thoughts repeat, 

"She whispers low." 

So let me live 
As in her presence still, 
And duty will fulfil. 

What she would give. 



96 



LXXXII 

THE universe displays creative mind, — 
And few are they who dare suppose 
All else beyond ourselves is dumb and blind, 
And ours the only mind that knows. 

I feel there is a moving heart of things, 

A mind that comprehends the all, 
And from that life our own life springs, 

And neither it nor we can fall. 

I see the cosmic life forever grow, 

And all material bow to thought ; 
Thus viewing force and man, I feel I know 

In what direction God has wrought. 

A Spirit moves a world of force and law, 

And likest God, man has control 
Of forces vast and dread that can not awe 

The ever-living, potent soul. 

The bright first morning stars prepared the way 

Till out of darkness came the light, 
And man, — who wills like God, — yet kneels to pray, 

Will not go down to endless night. 
7 97 



Ad Miriam 

In all created past we read design, 
A steady growth that does not end, 

And he is dull whose mind does not divine 
That higher life to which the aeons tend. 

How useless, weak, and vain is this my grief, 

The doubt in spite of all I see ; 
And yet the tears and sorrow bring relief, 

Dear Heart, until I meet with thee. 



98 



LXXXIII 

WHEN Sadness drops her veil 
O'er many a bitter tear, 
And Sorrow, wan and pale, 
Would close enfold me here, 

Then Memory, sweet and bright, 
Lays rosy cheek to mine 

Till with my tear-stained sight 
I see the sweet stars shine. 



99 



LXXXIV 

1SAW an Arctic sky 
Refulgent in the summer glow 
With purple and with gold 
And colors manifold 
Light up a dreary realm of snow 
Where nature seemed to die. 

So love, divine and sweet, 
The woman-love that all men need, 

Lights up each dreary day 

That else were cold and gray, 
And lacking love were bare indeed 

And wholly incomplete. 



LXXXV 

1WAIT in patience, knowing all is well, 
For she is safe, where'er she be; 
The days and weeks are trumpet tones that tell 
The way to where she waits for me. 

I pray that her sweet soul may help to raise 
This darker, coarser soul of mine, 

That her sweet self may still in woman's ways 
Lead me each day toward things divine. 



LXXXVI 

1 STUMBLED blindly through the snow 
That dreary, awful day, 
And those around who let me go 
Made free my dreary way. 

Alone with biting winds that blow, 
With hilltops wan and gray, 

Till nature's sense of peace might grow 
Where shattered vision lay. 

Like distant music sweet and low, 
Far-heard by those who stray, 

Her living self I learned to know 
And turned aside to pray. 



102 



LXXXVII 

I DO not know that we shall meet again, 
I do not know and no one knows, 
For veils of darkness hide from eyes of men 
The stars that rise beyond life's close. 

But this I know: that she was good and sweet, 
That life to her meant smiles for me, 

That all her happy days were made complete 
By deeds that held us all in fee. 

I know she made her daily living good, 
Forgot herself and made more bright 

This world of ours by doing all she could 
For us before the last good-night. 

I know I love her sweet, unselfish soul, 

I know I hold each memory dear, 
And till the last deep shadows o'er me roll 

That I shall love and bless her here. 



103 



LXXXVIII 

HER voice rang sweet in many a hymn, 
Rang sweet and clear, 
And carried me to times far-off and dim 
When men by great cathedrals paused to hear 

The morning songs arise 
And spread their music o'er a pleasant land, 

As kindly skies 
Give light to vales adorned by nature's hand. 

How sweet her voice arose! 

How resonant and strong! 
Within my memory still there flows 

Her melody of song. 
And all her life was song to me, 

A sweet, sweet song of youth 
Whose echoes nevermore can flee, 

For they are beauty, they are truth ; 

And deep within my heart, 
With many a thrill, 

Her soul's divinest part, 
Her better voice, is ringing still. 



104 



LXXXIX 

THE things she knew are doubly dear,- 
The rooms her hands arranged, 
The green-leafed plants she loved to rear, 

The whole mute house unchanged, — 
Unchanged! unchanged indeed! — ah, no! 

For once where beauty lay, 
Where happy songs sweet-heard and low 

Filled all the happy day, 
Is now a dreadful calm and rest ; 

The slow-ticked moments drag 
As if the minutes made request 

That time itself should lag. 
And yet I love the lonely place 

With all that here belongs: 
O happy place ! it knew her face, 

It heard her happy songs. 



105 



xc 

YOUR birthday comes again, 
And oh! how clear your face appears! 
How sweet and calm beyond my tears ! 

sweet and calm as when 
Our lives were linked in one, 

As when your faith gave heart to me 
And all my life was but to be 
With you from sun to sun. 

1 cannot understand, 

I cannot read myself aright ; 

The threads are twisted, black and white, 

By fate's relentless hand. 

But you at least I knew, 
A heart in which my faith was deep, 
A love that could its sweetness keep, 

A soul divinely true; 

With you were peace and rest, 
And sweet content and goodly cheer. 

Sweetheart ! live in me each year 
And lead unto the best ! 

When all is understood 

1 think that love holds master-sway, 
And we shall know some glorious day 

That all is somehow good. 



106 



XCI 

I WATCH the steamers calm and strong 
Float grandly out to sea; 
They float and go the while I long 
For faith to pilot me. 

I know indeed we all must go 

Across the boundless deep 
When after heart-beats soft and low 

We gently fall asleep. 

I feel assured one waits me there 

Beyond the mystic wave, 
But oh for chart and pilot's care 

And hands to reach and save I 



107 



XCII 

WE stayed at home that last sweet night, 
The last home-night forever, 
And laughed and talked in converse light 
Nor dreamed that we must sever. 

Her busy fingers plied the thread, 

The lamp-light o'er her falling, 
The while from many a book I read 

With pleasure past recalling. 

And while I watched she read in turn 

With voice like music seeming, 
That now with all my heart I yearn 

To hear if but in dreaming. 

And so we talked with converse light 
Nor dreamed that we must sever; 

We laughed and kissed and said good-night, 
The last home-night forever. 



108 



XCIII 

THERE was a time, Sweetheart, long months ago, 
While wooded hills and vales between us lay, 
That I was sad for thee, though not in woe 

As now when death's great barrier bars the way. 

I longed, Sweetheart, for thee, and yet I knew 
That you were safe beyond the hills afar. 

I looked upon the evening's depth of blue 

And thought: ''Mayhap she sees my evening star.' 

O darling one, this verse that I do write 
Must reach across whatever lies between. 

You live, and so I send you love to-night, 

My love and prayer for thee in worlds unseen. 



109 



XCIV 

IN a valley that laughed in summer and sun 
In the glorious and beautiful days long ago, 
When knights were careering and tourneys were run, 
A goodman learned much of God's joy and woe. 

For once long before, on a morn he had prayed: 
"O Lord, in summer and sun all goeth so well 

I hope not for Heaven nor of Hell am afraid ; 
Teach me, O Lord, thy Heaven and Hell." 

And the Lord's white angel, her robing of flame 
And her garment of beauty all put aside, 

In the guise of a woman unto him came, 

And he called her companion, sweetheart, and bride. 

And her voice was sweet like the music of God, 
And her hands were as gentle as angels' are, 

And her face like a flower that smiles from the sod, 
And her eyes were as deep as the evening star. 

Then the sky was so blue and the air was so sweet, 
And the roses so thick that clamber and climb, 

And the joys so many that none could repeat, 

That the cottage was Heaven's own self for a time. 



Ad Miriam 

Then the Lord's white angel her robe of flame 

And her garment of beauty put on once more, — 

And over the rose-hung cottage there came 

A gloom and a chill with her passing the door. 

And the music had gone from stream and from hill, 
And the stones were rough and the ways were hard, 

And the smile of the flowers had gone with the chill, 
And the moon's bright face was clouded and barred. 

And the goodman sat and he moaned alone, 
And he wept with a grief that none might tell, 

For Heaven is love of our own heart's own, 

And the absence of Heaven, O Lord, is thy Hell. 



xcv 

WITHIN the singing woods I lie 
Beside the crooked, tumbling stream, 
And o'er me hangs the blue, blue sky 
That leads to reverie and dream, 

What peace and calm in this retreat 

Remote from far-off city ways! 
Where woodland voices all repeat 

Unceasing chants of love and praise! 

Dear God! I love thy forest home, 
Thy sunshine in among the trees, 

Thy mighty temple's blue, blue dome, 

Thy choral chants from brook and breeze. 

And once a soul there dwelt with me 

Whose presence brought me peace and rest 

By city ways or woodland tree, 

Where'er I was, and made me blest. 

In thought of her these woods are dear; 

In them I half can feel her hand ; 
In them at times her voice I hear, 

And partly, dimly understand. 



112 



XCVI 

O VIOLET and wind-swept leaf of Spring! 
There was a time I loved thee more ! 
A shadow veileth everything, 

And leaves and flowers are not as once before. 

The wandering breeze is damp and cold, 
And clouds hide half the depth of sky; 

Spring's song of love remains untold, 

And dreary nature chants that all must die. 

But once not so — O happy day 

When sweet, returning warmth gave birth 
To little leaves that leaped in play 

And gladdened me and all the wide, wide earth. 

For then one stood and loved with me 
The sweet fresh air and teeming sod ; 

I felt a soul in every tree 

And hand in hand we talked of life and God. 



"3 



XCVII 

DEAR comrade of old days, 
Dear soul that walked with me, 
My heart must chant thy praise 
In hourly memory. 

My heart is all alone 

In earth's monastic wall, 
Within dark wood and stone, 

With shadows over all. 

And there it kneels full low 

While thoughts like censers burn, 

And none but it may know 
How love for love can yearn. 



114 



XCVIII 

BESIDE my door there grows 
A country rose, 
A clipping cut from far away 
Where once in happy day 
A sweet old garden lay 
With many a rose. 

And when we ceased to roam 

And sought our home, 
The roses gave us welcome there, 
And perfumed all the air, 
With fragrance everywhere 

About our home. 

But now there is no flower 

To bloom each hour, 
Though yet, some brighter day, I know, 
That here as long ago 
Full many a rose shall grow 

To bless each hour. 

The winters fill with dread 
And make like dead 
My country rose that seems to die 
While winds are rough and high, 
But under brighter sky 
It is not dead. 

"5 



Ad Miriam 

The one who planted thee, 

Dear rose, can see 
Like thee God's gift of life is sweet, 
Though seeming incomplete, 
So changing and so fleet, 

So sad to see. 

You too may miss the touch 

That meant so much 
Alike to thee and me each day, — 
The soft and gentle way, 
Dear rose, — now gone for aye, — ■ 

That meant so much. 

Lift high your blossoms, dear, 

And let us here 
With more of sweetness and of light 
Make all our world be bright 
Till winter and dark night 

Shall greet us here. 



116 



XCIX 

IN sweet old tales of mystic lore, 
Of knights and castles long ago, 
Of tourneys and bright deeds of yore, 

Of flashing swords and questings to and fro, 

Of maiden knights and hearts of fire, 

I read of those who journeyed far 
By moated wall and wattled byre, 

By pleasant summer sun and winter star, 

Whose hearts were filled with love of one 

For whose dear love they rode afield, 
And in whose grace their deeds were done, 

And in whose name their conquered foe must yield. 

They knew a guiding heart and hand, 

A life for which they dared to live ; 
They fought afar in many a land 

For one to whom they gave what love could give. 

O sweet my love, for thee I go 

On quests, for thee I strive and do, 
And in my heart of hearts I know 

My constant guiding soul is thought of you. 



117 



OUR wedding music rings from long ago 
Its old sweet march of love — 
The old sweet march that all my years shall know, 

Whose notes still sound above 
The coarser chords of life and give relief 

When days are dark and drear, 
When passion storms in madness and in grief, 

And doubts grow into fear. 
The music sounds afar — O sweet ! O sweet 

Is memory's treasured note, 
The melody of voices that repeat 

Themselves, whose echoes float 
Across the years. The richer life is best, 

The life that loves the past 
With all the melodies that made it blest, 

The life that hopes at last 
To hear again the voices gone to-day, 

To know the sweeter soul 
One loved, — as if from some much-wearied way 

One sought the sea for goal, 
The summer sea with reach of misty blue 

Beneath a blue-arched sky, 
And there in its vast reach and sweeping view 

Felt God Himself was nigh. 
We can not yield our dead without a strife. 

Our human hearts rebel 
And fiercely long to call them back to life. 

It seems as if the knell 
118 



Ad Miriam 

Had rung to all we know and love on earth ; 

But still the summer sea 
Is fair, and still we think God's ways have worth, 

However grieved we be. 
The storm and passion die away at last, 

And then at length there grows, 
With dew of tears besprinkled and o'ercast, 

Sweet memory's sweetest rose. 
We live and love, and hold our faith, and hear 

A sweeter music rise, 
For God still voices on our inner ear: 

"There is no soul that dies." 



119 



P T~^HK blue waves dance and the wind blows free, 

And over the billows I go afar, 
For I sail on a wide wide sea 
With never a reef nor bar. 

With morning's beam the waves are agleam, 

And the air is strong and free, 
And nought is more sweet, I deem, 

Than sailing the wide wide sea. 

For I love the measureless space of the deep 

With never a reef nor bar, 
And I love the salt spray's sweep, 

As I sail and sail afar. 

But oh for the light of home at last 

Where love is await for me, 
When over the sweep of the vast 

I come from the wide wide sea! 



1 20 



JUN 11 * 909 



